The game is a multiplayer that uses Blender to model and texturize the environment but runs on the more powerful Source Engine - this will enable the use of other software such as Terragen to create highly realistic maps with full HDR mapping and bump mapping. Just because Blender’s GE can’t cope with such graphics doesn’t mean that Blender can’t be used! I was suprised at how easy it was to make a Deathmatch map using blender - then exporting it and loading it with Hammer Editor!

There are alot of things to be worked out and I’m not ready to accept developers but I will in the future. I’ll be doing the initial setup and will be looking for some good modelers for the players and maps. Basically the game will be the screen above. When you launch the STEAM client and play the game it will load this screen in a window. From here you can manage your Seven Forces account (username, password, contact stuff etc…), your settings (player, weapons, maps, etc…), and then search for STEAM servers that are running Seven Forces (filters out everything else) - connecting to a server initializes the death match game! It’s really more of a mod than it is an actual game but if it turns out to be rather successful and Blender is good enough to actually be the stand alone editor (currently 3DS Max is still the preferred by standard) then I might go ahead and design a single player or co-single player (like Sven Co-Op).

The general look and feel is city like. The first map planned will be an ally way with two stories and alot of open room within the buildings - the most popular type of deathmatch map - open paint ball style! Players will be urban to some extent. Clothed in their own unique clothing they will be wearing snow caps, jackets, hats, etc… each player looking like he/she is from a different “force” - ie: desert, city, military, arctic etc… Also for the female players out there I’d like to be able to change each players sex to either male or female so that you aren’t limited to the one female model like other games… There will be 7 players, 7 weapons, and 7 maps with each map having a different “force” of nature.

I just finished up that preliminary design and thought that I would share it - if you will be wanting to comment or help (in the future naturally) then please feel free to post! Love to hear your comments!

It runs off of the Source Engine - which means that you only have to have a copy of the Source Engine and the HL2: Deathmatch platform specifically. So if you have HL2: Deathmatch (i think that it could be developed for CS:Source or DoD:Source too) which runs for 19.95 i think then you could play this game free of charge! If we got a Source License then we might be able to create a stand alone but I don’t see that happening as it is rather expensive. It really isn’t so much of a “Blender” project - it just uses Blender for modelling - hopefully to establish Blender in the GE community and with Source being “free” and being AMAZING! it was just the obvious solution!

the game will start out as a dedicated server for HL2: Deathmatch (meaning you only have to have HL2: Deathmatch to play it - goes for 9.95 right now) and it will consist of custom maps and player models as well as some modified weapon values. All of the player models will be overwrote with substitutes for our server (so you come in as Gordon but get the Thomas Jones character without actually changing your HL2 profile settings!)

From there it will become a STEAM/HL2: Deathmatch mod where a steam skinned window will take control of loading News, Managing 7F Accounts, Settings, and for browsing available 7F Servers. Selecting a server will then load 7F (the HL2:Deathmatch Mod) which everything will be 7F unique - weapons, maps, characters, objects - everything!

At this stage you would still be able to browse STEAM for 7F servers and it would launch the game but from the My Games menu it would launch the window.

This would still require that you had atleast HL2: Deathmatch (or HL2) installed. If we got the licensing or Valve took over we could package it like DoD or CS:S and then you wouldn’t need anything else but that’s unlikely.

If the Mod is a success (ie: we get about 10 dedicated servers active and atleast 100+ active players) we may develope a single player story line or mission based game - or like already mentioned a Sven Co-Op mod (getting deep in mods there) where it’s multiplayer game with single player maps where AI and everything else exists - you sort of bring your team along to help you through it! We’ll see how it goes…

I’m still working on setting up the servers and creating the maps and player over rides - it’s a little tricky but I’m getting there. Once the maps are designed I’ll start production on the first and give it a test run on LAN - if it works well I’ll release the server and then bring on some developers for finishing up the other maps.